Matt Hancock, the former health secretary, has claimed that the leaked WhatsApp messages from the height of the pandemic have been "spun to fit an anti-lockdown agenda". The messages reveal that Hancock rejected the advice of Chris Whitty, the Chief Medical Officer, to test for Covid all residents going into English care homes. Hancock later introduced guidance that made testing mandatory for those entering care homes from a hospital setting, but not for those coming from the community. A spokesman for Hancock released three statements after the former health secretary's messages were handed to The Telegraph by Isabel Oakeshott, the political journalist who was given copies of his messages while working on his Pandemic Diaries memoir. The spokesman said on Monday night that "what the messages do show is a lot of people working hard to save lives". The start of the Covid public inquiry was delayed last month by a secrecy row, as families of the bereaved complained about the names of civil servants being redacted from documents

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